Zimbabwe on Edge Amid Negotiations After Military Takeover

Mugabe pressured to resign

Zimbabweans are hoping for a speedy and smooth resolution to their nation’s sudden political crisis, as opposition figures, civil society and religious groups urge longtime President Robert Mugabe to step down in the wake of a military takeover.

But reports Thursday said Mugabe was resisting, and South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, dashed hopes of a quick final act, telling his parliament, “It is too early to take any firm decision now.”

Mugabe hasn’t been seen in public since being placed under house arrest in Harare by soldiers Tuesday night. Mediators sent by the South African government met at Mugabe’s home Thursday and at State House.

Analyst Knox Chitiyo of the Chatham House research institution, was in Harare when the military deployed its tanks on Tuesday. Chitiyo, who is Zimbabwean, says the longer the military is perceived to be in charge, the more unstable things will become.

“The key issue is the time scale,” he told VOA in Johannesburg. “The military will want…these negotiations to be completed, as quickly as possible. They want to have the president, or if it’s acting president, in place as soon as possible. They want an interim administration announced, I think, as soon as possible. The military does not want this to drag out, because the longer all this drags out, the murkier, the messier it could become.”

Some key figures in Zimbabwe’s opposition are proposing a transitional government ahead of the elections already planned for next year.

“Mr. Robert Mugabe must resign, step down immediately in line with the national sentiment and expectation, taking full regard of his legacy and his contribution to Zimbabwe, pre- and post-Zimbabwe,” he told reporters in Harare.

The vice president whom Mugabe recently fired – arguably the catalyst for this military takeover – has kept a low profile. Emmerson Mnangagwa, says Piers Pigou of the International Crisis Group, will lose credibility if he appears too close to the military.

“It’s absolutely critical for the new incumbent to be able to, I suppose, be able to distance themselves from the illegal actions of the armed forces here, or ostensibly what looks like it,” he told VOA. “I simply don’t know how they’re going to put lipstick on that pig.”

But, Chitiyo says, the negotiators have a lot to discuss. The crisis came out of a long-running, bitter rift in the ruling ZANU-PF party, which Mugabe has led for decades. Observers saw the move to fire Mnangagwa as a step toward the installation of Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, as vice president. That would have put the unpopular first lady in line to someday replace her 93-year-old husband.

“It’s very delicate, there’s also negotiations within the party, between the party and the opposition, between the powers that be currently and South Africa and the region,” Chitiyo said. “So there’s multiple negotiations, delicate negotiations. Too much talk too soon could do more harm than good. I think that’s what the military is saying.”

The military insists this is not a coup, and the powerful war veterans’ association called the action a “bloodless correction.”

For that narrative to work, however, they need one thing that no one ever thought would be easy to get: for Zimbabwe’s fiery, passionate leader to leave without a fight.